From Slashgeo:

Several geoblogs discussed the successful launch of three GLONASS satellites by Russia. Best coverage is provided by the S,M,GIS blog and the Geospatial Semantic blog. From the latter: "According to Engadget, we should expect to see the first compatible consumer device in mid-2008. By 2010, Russia will open the system up to the outside nations as well. Given the growing importance of location-based systems in the future, governments around the world are trying to create systems to either compete or complement with the widely used GPS system [...]" Slashdot also discuss GLONASS. Vector One discuss how well Russia is mapped, GLONASS or not. The new American GPS IIR-18(M) was also successfully launched on December 20th. Some previous stories copied below.